Carbon Sequestration & Ocean Desalination

Carbon Sequestration and Ocean Desalination

Carbon sequestration is the lockup of carbon dioxide before or after it enters the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a low energy, stable byproduct of the reaction of higher energy carbon compounds. These reactions both release energy and increase the entropy of (cause the dispersal of) net carbon compounds, the most notable example the burning of fossil fuels. Thus it takes energy both to collect (re-concentrate) the carbon and to create something useful with it. All sequestration techniques, including disposal in underground injection wells, thus require energy.

The energy of a sequestration technique is commonly referred to as “the energy penalty.” We live in an age of looming energy shortage. Any discussion of an “energy penalty” usually kills the will to do anything about carbon. However there are certain industrial processes already in progress that can significantly lower the energy penalty of certain sequestration processes if the processes are combined. Below are media explaining the process, including a video, two news-formatted articles, and some further thoughts on renewable energy.

An Environmental Trifecta: The following video explains how brine from ocean desalination can be used for carbon sequestration [the lock-up of CO2 emissions] by producing carbonate mineral solids:

An article in the Orange Juice Blog (a news outlet for Orange County, California) summarizes how the salt from ocean desalination can be used to lock up (sequester) carbon dioxide from a property-sharing, natural gas, power plant.

The summary has a link to a longer version of the article that includes more technical details, as well as a discussion of how environmental mitigation is split along economic self interests, while the key is to work together.

Carbon Neutrality

The first step toward lowering your carbon footprint is to not produce carbon in the first place by using non-carbon sources of energy. Renewable Continuously-sourced energy can be readily deployed on rooftops and many other existing infrastructures. “Whether captured or not, the equivalent of 12 gallons of gasoline [of solar energy per day] falls on an 80 square meter rooftop under average insolation conditions. With currently feasible efficiencies, we can capture about two of those gallons (15%) photovoltaically, and 9 of those gallons (75%) thermally. Currently, more money is spent on shingles to protect rooftops from the damage of solar radiation than on solar panels to tap it.” —Entropy Happens, Chapter IV A 1

Dr. Hoaglund on the roof of CBS studios assists GoodEarthEnergy in the installation of solar panels. View to NE, note “Hollywood” sign in the mountains in the background.

8 panels in series (voltages adding from each panel) form a rack, 22 racks in parallel (currents adding from each rack) form a set, each set produces some serious juice! View to ESE, note LA skyline in the background.

Robert Heng of GoodEarthEnergy on the roof of CBS studios, “If you’re in the solar business, you’re in the roofing business.”

Racks awaiting panels, CBS studios and the world are starting to tap solar power.

The Role of Water

Why do you need water expertise on your carbon reduction project? Used in cooling and cleaning, water is critical to the development of all energy resources …

Aerial view showing portions of four of the five SEGS III–VII plants located at Kramer Junction.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Generating_Systems

… and water is a critical resource for the electrolytic production of hydrogen. Hydrogen is an energy carrier, providing a way to store energy as a clean fuel from any energy resource, “…but with water as a source of the hydrogen, the pure water leaving a fuel-cell is derived from purified water entering an electrolyzer [a chemical electrolytic cell used for the production of hydrogen].” [Entropy Happens, Chapter III E]

Carbon Negativity

All carbon sequestration projects–processes for the actual reduction of carbon emissions from carbon sources– are in various stages of research, development, testing, and demonstration. Carbon Negative Water Solutions is developing carbon sequestration techniques using natural water chemistry. Algae and carbonate minerals removed the CO2 from Earth’s original atmosphere. We are repeating the process industrially for today’s carbon reduction.

Stromatolites–fossilized blue-green algal mats–in the 2.1 billion year old Kona Formation, dolomitic carbonates near Marquette,Michigan. Stromatolites are some of the oldest fossils on Earth. Blue-green algae (procaryotic cynanobacteria) produced Earth’s first atmospheric oxygen, and the associated carbonate sediments removed the CO2 from Earth’s original atmosphere.